2007 — 22 July: getting the bird

My avian expert tells me that amazing-sounding bird (he's now settling for species pterodactyl) was back again at around 5:15 a.m. flapping
around and laughing. Hope his fish are still all there.

09:20 or so and breakfast in bed. This is the life, heh? Meanwhile, sister-in-law down in New Zealandland has been watching worrying pictures of
flooding in the Midlands, and thus needed a tad of email reassurance. Mind you, I have to admit the pump is back in service to help
me bale out the watery side of the
bog garden a couple of inches at a time, and very labour-saving it is, too. Hooray for electricity.

Out in the unreal (seeming) world

There's a long and thoughtful piece by Noam Chomsky here. While this is in no way a summary, it conveys
the flavour:

"I often have to arrange talks years in advance," says Noam Chomsky. "Asked for a title, I suggest The Crisis in the Middle East. It has yet to fail"...

Basking in the sun... department

Went the day well?

Today, She downed the final set of Chemo pills for this first (of three) cycles of treatment. Starting tomorrow is a "rest" week with
all meds continuing except the Chemo. And we next see Her consultant this coming Wednesday. (Some readers, it seems, still wish
to see such news.) So, yes, both the day and indeed the week at home have basically gone well. I left Her happily munching
some pretzels while I was downstairs watching the final-ever episode of Rome.

We also spent some time together sorting out the pondy bit of the bog garden. Now we await the next rain with some interest. Amazing, by the
way, the number of wriggling creepy-crawlies that decided the pondy bit was a safe haven in the last three weeks or so. Sorry, chaps.